By Sun and Candlelight
by Ninamazing
Summary: Meagan & I doing a story together!! ;) This is my chapter. The second can be found under *her* profile, the third is back here, and so on. ^_^
1. By Sun and Candlelight: Chapter One

**By Sun and Candlelight - Chapter One**

I sighed, stepping out of the Three Broomsticks and waving goodbye to my mother. She was a lovely person, but _honestly_...living with her got a bit tedious after awhile. It seemed like she still thought I was eleven sometimes, going off to Hogwarts...I remember that time. And my third year was the best, being able to go home during school for the first time. My friends always got special discounts at the Three Broomsticks because of me, and I loved Honeydukes so much.   
I used to go there regularly for Toothflossing Stringmints (my favorite!!), Ice Mice, Peppermint Toads, and sometimes even Fizzing Whizbees - though levitating got boring after awhile. I smiled, remembering how I had met a real, live (well, almost) vampire, buying enormous quantities of blood-flavored lollipops over in the Unusual Tastes section. She scared me nearly out of my wits, that one...   
"Excuse me?" said a young man softly, jarring me out of my reminisces. I'd been blocking the door to the Three Broomsticks all this time!!   
"Oh, I'm so sorry," I replied hastily, moving out of the way. "I was just - just -"   
"Just thinking?" he asked, and on a closer look, I noticed the wrinkles in his skin and his tired, tired eyes - he _seemed_ young, but...   
"Yes, just thinking..." I answered, grateful that he understood.   
"What about?"   
"Well...when I was young and I used to come here..."   
"Hogwarts?"   
"Why, yes!" Had he gone?? Did we know each other?   
"So am I...I'm Remus Lupin, how do you do?"   
I froze. Not Remus Lupin!! Not the one...not the one...not the one my brother forced to back out of a teaching job at Hogwarts a month ago!! Severus said it was something he'd done as a boy...but he seemed like a pretty decent guy...I didn't understand. I hadn't seen Severus in a long time, I tried not to, ever since our parents got divorced there was an even bigger barrier between us. I grew up with a loving, caring, kind mother...and he grew up with a horror.   
"Very well, thank you...I'm Julie Rosmerta," I replied, smiling and holding out my hand. I resolved to forget about the whole Snape thing - that was his business what jobs he had. But if he had gone to Hogwarts...I thought back and remembered the "hotshot" James Potter, the star Gryffindor Seeker, top Transfiguration student, and his two best friends...Sirius Black and _Remus Lupin_!   
"Rosmerta? Not -"   
"Yes," I responded to the unasked question with a grin. "She's my mother."   
"Where does your father work?" he asked, meaning only to be friendly, I was sure...   
"He isn't here. They're divorced." I didn't mean it to sound cold, but it did.   
"I'm sorry." I wished I'd been more considerate, at least. My father was just...a Snape.   
"No, no...so you went to Hogwarts?"   
"Yes," he confirmed.   
"James Potter's friend?"   
"Well, yes...how do you know?"   
"I was a first year when I first met you...you were all third years. I remember James once saying to me that he wished I could go to Hogsmeade with them for the special deals at the Three Broomsticks - jokingly, of course." I laughed, and he smiled faintly like he was remembering something. He had a faraway look in his eyes.   
"Yes...I remember you...slightly...my, you look different," he said, looking at me cheerfully again, "but much better though," he added hastily.   
"So do you!" I told him, grinning.   
"My thanks..."   
"So what brings you here?" I could have kicked myself for asking. I couldn't believe I was so stupid!! _Force him to bring up the job he's just had to give up, brilliant, Julie!_   
"Ah...well...I'm actually job-searching, I, ah, just quit a job at Hogwarts," he said, looking uneasy, and I broke my resolve, vowing to ask Severus about it. I needed to know what he'd done to this poor man!! He was, after all, my brother, no matter how interfering and conniving he could be.   
"Let's stroll around a bit," I invited gracefully, changing the subject, and he seemed grateful. I wasn't going to pursue the issue...I would ask Severus later.   
"I used to practically _live_ at Zonko's whenever I came up here. My best friends were incredible troublemakers, but they were wonderful people..."   
"They had good taste in friends," I remarked casually, grinning again. He smiled, which lit up his whole face and seemed to make it young and carefree again, but he didn't say anything towards that subject, somehow ashamed beneath his smile. I wondered what I could have done _now_ to upset him!!   
"And Honeydukes was of course always a must-visit," he continued, a real smile returning.   
"Oh, yes! The Toothflossing Stringmints and Peppermint Toads...what a treat..."   
"And then your mother came up with the Mint Chip Float!"   
"I got free tastes of that, all my friends, too. It pays to be connected to the Three Broomsticks," I told him, laughing. He grinned playfully as we approached Dervish and Banges, the wizarding equipment shop.   
"I never went in there much..." he remarked.   
"Neither did I. Let's go now," I suggested. So together we walked up and opened the door, hearing the recorded sound of bells behind us as we stepped in with a whoosh of crisp cold air, a relief in the summer heat. Inside, we found scales, dragonhide clothing, magic bells, wizard cameras of all shapes and sizes, power stones, strange, exotic silverware, and more wonders. I was surprised - I usually kept to the other end of town, and when I did come here, I never saw it in this light. It was as if I was discovering a brand new store.   
We roamed the aisles and shelves for a little while, until we both remembered that there were only a few Knuts to be found in our light pockets. I did rather like that MagicSnap 900 camera, but...oh, well. I led him outside   
"Look, there's the Shrieking Shack!" I exclaimed, pointing across the town to the haunted house. Remus shivered, and looked horrible. I didn't know what he was hiding, but I kept saying the wrong things, and I was angry with myself. "Let's go to the Three Broomsticks - it's hot and I could do with one of Mother's big pink lemonades right now."   
"Sure," he agreed, but a little weakly. The smile sure had disappeared. We walked in silence the rest of the way home.

I gulped at my huge glass of pink lemonade, standing next to Remus at the counter. He was chatting away with Mother.   
"Remus Lupin...yes, I remember you," she rambled, "always tagging along with that James Potter and Sirius Black, the traitor! Sometimes Peter Pettigrew, bless his soul -" Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Remus wince and frown. "- would come along. You boys were such troublemakers, spending too much time at Zonko's..."   
"Yes, Madam Rosmerta, we quite were!! Sirius was the worst...ah, those were the happy days."   
"Let's not talk about traitors, Remus. Look where troublemaking too often got Sirius, the lousy tramp!"   
Again, a dark shadow passed over Remus, and I was scared. What had happened to make him shiver at any mention of the Shrieking Shack, Hogwarts, or Sirius Black? There must be a way they all fit somehow...   
"So I noticed you were hiring, Madam - what jobs?"   
"Well, we need someone to help Julie here," and she gestured towards me as I grinned, "run the store in the afternoons on weekdays."   
"Pay's pretty good," I told him, smiling playfully, and he laughed.   
"Sure! I'll take it."


	2. By Sun and Candlelight: Chapter Three

**A's N: Sorry, sorry, sorry, SORRY! It's been soooo long, and I'm *very* angry at myself for not doing this. Okay. Apologies are done. :) Now - all even-numbered parts will be by Meagan, so head over there for a better story. ;)******

* * *

I gazed in astonishment at the letter, then at the owl, then back again.

_Julie-- I don't know why Remus is muddling in your life, too, but I want you to stay away from him. He's a werewolf, and he's dangerous. Usually I wouldn't care one way or the other, as you never cared about me, your own brother, but he is a werewolf! He transformed himself last year and tried to kill a few students - rulebreakers, of course - who were walking around. As relieved as I would have been to have those disobeying, overconfident sneaks out of my hands, I knew I owed my duty to the school to turn him in. A nasty way to get food, even for a werewolf, if you ask me. Well, now you know the story. Spread the word, and save Hogsmeade from the werewolf! --Severus___

I stared at the owl again, then back down at the letter. So _that's _how Severus forced Remus to back out of the job! He "spread the word" around Hogwarts, and stirred all the parents up! I had **not** expected this when I sent an angry letter to Snape about firing Remus, and I certainly wasn't sure whether to believe him now!   
With a horrible clearness in my head, I remembered two weeks ago, before we'd both left on short vacations. _"I think the knowledge of what you had to be for the rest of your life would be much worse than the pain ..."_ Remus had an imagination, and I knew that he did try to see into people and understand them and help them ... but that look in his eyes when he said that. There was more pain there than I'd ever seen in anyone's eyes. I couldn't believe that he was just sympathetic - could I? _"So ... what's this about the law against vampires?" _All right, maybe we were both working when I said that, and we both had things on our minds, but Remus was always attentive to detail, especially about werewolves, vampires, Boggarts, kappas, grindylows - after all, he'd told me that he'd taught a class on them at Hogwarts. I knew he would automatically snap to attention if a new law about something like them was mentioned, so he could keep up-to-date. _"It's just ... you know, those werewolves ... I feel sorry for them ..." _How could Remus change opinions so quickly? First saying that, and then looking frightened, nervous, and pained, and talking about the "knowledge of what you had to be for the rest of your life ..." Shocking myself with the rush of memories that came back into my head, I remembered his uneasiness as I told him that Sirius, James, and Peter had had good taste in friends. Did he think, that just because he was a werewolf -   
_Unfounded accusation, Julie!_ I screamed inwardly at myself. Carefully, I went over the evidence. If it nearly proved that Remus was a werewolf, did it support the other side as well? Maybe Remus had just been a little off that day ... and Severus - it was really Severus I was doubting. I was smart enough to put together the other clues. But if Severus was right, then there was no doubt about it. I would have to believe that Remus was a werewolf.   
I re-read the letter. That sounded like Severus, all right. And the owl was bearing a Hogwarts crest - the owl! Quickly, I paid him a few Knuts and saw him off, then returned to my thinking.   
All right, so it was Severus writing to me. And - well, I knew better than anybody how to decipher Severus's ways of talking. The students were probably breaking the rules for a very good reason, and people were around after dark all the time. Remus had probably changed by accident ... the point was, Severus exaggerated, but he didn't lie outright. He wouldn't have called Remus a werewolf if he wasn't a werewolf. I had to face that. He could have called Remus an awful teacher, an ungrateful, unjust swine .... but I guess he figured that the simple truth of what he was was better than insults.   
Well, I decided, I wasn't going to put up with Severus any longer. I'd gotten my information from him, and I didn't care. I knew what I thought about werewolves. Remus had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. I didn't - I didn't - it was hard for me to even think what I knew I felt. I didn't love him any less for it.   
_You've only been working together for a month, Julie,_ I reminded myself. _Don't be so quick._ But I did love him - I loved him as a friend, a good friend, and they were rare. I could count on him to feel comfortable with the person I was, anytime, and I just had to wait for him to learn that I was comfortable with him - all of him - in the same way.   


Work on Monday was a little quieter than it was before, because I supposed to we were both thinking. I'd decided to pretend I didn't know anything, until he was ready to tell me. I didn't want to hurt him at all. I didn't want to risk losing him. Ever. He was the best friend I had. Especially now, in Hogsmeade, where I didn't really know what to do besides work at the Three Broomsticks. When I just wanted to stay in one place for awhile, while all my friends started the rest of their lives, and think ... even so, I still hated to watch all the happy Hogwarts students. They knew where their lives were headed - towards the O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s. They had great friends, and they didn't have to think beyond their seventh year.   
I cleared my throat. This couldn't go on! "So ... what do you think you're going to do after this job?" I asked curiously.   
"After this job?" He looked stricken.   
"Yes, after this job," I repeated. "I certainly don't want to work here for the rest of my life!"   
"Why not?" he questioned softly.   
Taken aback, I replied, "Well - it's just - I can't do this _forever._ I want to do something with my life. I was supposed to have learned things at Hogwarts, you know," I reminded both of us, and blushed. "I don't think I'm made for managing a pub in Hogsmeade, is all," I finished lamely.   
"What are your friends doing?" he wondered, trying to be helpful.   
"I don't know about the whole group," I admitted. "Ariana, or Ari, is working in the Department of International Magical Cooperation. At the Ministry," I added dumbly. "I think Bea is in the Department of Magical Games and Sports, and Gerik - Gerik drives the Day Bus, that's right. I just saw him when I went to deposit to our Gringotts account." Remus didn't look bored, so I continued. "I've always thought about teaching at Hogwarts, I guess ... that's what my brother -" I shut up instantly, moaning and snapping at myself inside, and mentally vowing to be alert for the rest of the conversation and **never** let my attention slip like that! "Uh, so, what are your friends doing?" I returned.   
Remus wasn't fooled. "Your brother teaches at Hogwarts?" he asked carefully.   
I shook my head, blushing, and mumbled, "It's not impor -"   
"I know him, then," Remus went on. I don't think he heard me. He was too busy thinking. "Who is it? What does he teach?"   
I knew I couldn't avoid it now. "It's Severus," I said with a sigh. "But we never keep in touch anymore!" I added hastily, remembering his letter last night with a stab of guilt. "Our parents are divorced." I tried to look innocent, and ignorant of Remus's identity. He allowed himself a small frown, but the subject was dropped then and he continued on to another topic as if we'd never spoken.


End file.
